Sailor Moon R - Aftereffects and Determination
by SeerKing
Summary: Set in the same universe as Apologies and Forgiveness and Recriminations and Realisations. After the defeat of Death Phantom, Usagi collapses! What is causing it and how will her faithful Senshi react to the news?


It was in the morning, two days after Chibi-Usa returned to the future, that it happened.

Usagi had had a lovely date with Mamoru and had gone to bed happy and content, knowing that he truly loved her. If it hadn't been for his future self, King Endymion, sending him false prophetic dreams to deliberately test his devotion to her, they would never have broken up in the first place.

She had made a mental note to punish King Endymion in the future once Chibi-Usa returned.

The next morning, when Tsukino Ikuko tried to wake her ever-sleepy daughter, she couldn't rouse her. Not even pouring a glass of water over her head worked. Having a panic attack, the housewife got her husband to take her to the hospital.

It did not take long for news of Usagi's condition to spread to her friends at school. No sooner did the last bell end ringing did four very determined girls march straight to the hospital to find out what the heck was up with their Princess.

"Girls." Chiba Mamoru greeted the civilian-guised Senshi tersely as he sat on the waiting room's uncomfortable plastic chair.

"Mamoru-san, what's up with Usagi?" Rei asked anxiously. The Miko had been the last of the Senshi to discover her Princess' condition a sparse half hour beforehand and had not had the days' worth of enforced patience and acclimation that the other three had.

"She won't wake up." The reincarnation of Prince Endymion replied in a low voice, "No matter what they do. The doctors are running through more tests now, including a CT scan and an X-Ray, but…no matter how you look at it, this isn't natural."

That it was a 'magic problem' was left unsaid.

Mizuno Ami's fingers twitched, wanting to get her Mercury Computer out so she could start researching information about such things in the database. She also wanted to scan Usagi so she could narrow down the cause.

"Why is it always her that these things happen to?!" Minako said bitterly, remembering the Droid that had forced Usagi into a nigh-unbreakable sleep that drained her energy. She really could have _died_ if Mamoru hadn't pulled his head out of his rear end long enough to save their Princess.

"If it's another damn Droid, I'm electrocuting it." Makoto growled. She loved all of her teammates, but Usagi held a special place in her heart. The odango-wearing blond had accepted her without question, hadn't forced her to either be girly or tomboyish. She had been allowed to be herself around the girls, a priceless gift that she could never repay.

"I felt no evil forces around her like I did when that sleep-curse was on her." Mamoru shook his head in negation, "Would it be that it was so simple."

The girls and Mamoru stayed in the waiting room until Ikuko came in from a consultation with the doctor in charge of Usagi's treatment.

"They don't know what could be wrong with her!" she told the Senshi tearfully, "I just don't understand why this is happening to her!"

"Can we see her, Tsukino-oba-san?" Rei asked, "I could try and sense if there's something supernatural affecting her."

"Yes…yes, of course." The woman sniffed, "I'll just clear you all with the doctor…"

Minutes later, the four girls had to stifle gasps of shock as they were ushered into Usagi's room. The future Neo-Queen Serenity lay unmoving on the hospital bed, her hair undone from its customary odango hairstyle. Her face was pale and drawn, looking as if all of her energy had been sapped from her.

"Usagi-chan…!" Minako whispered in horror, staggering to one of the seats next to the bed. When she reached out and grabbed her friend's hand, the coolness of the skin shocked her.

"She had almost no body heat!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" Ami and Rei exclaimed and flanked the blond girl. Confirming her words just made them all the more worried.

"Girls, I'm going to head home." Ikuko said tiredly, "My husband and Shingo should be told about Usagi's condition as soon as possible. Can you stay here and watch her?"

"You don't have to ask." Makoto assured her, "We'll look after her."

" _ **Mercury Star Power, Make Up!**_ "

Once the Tsukino Matriarch had left and the door firmly shut, Ami quickly transformed into Sailor Mercury, whipped out the Mercury Computer and started typing away in a frenzy.

"Her energy is very low." She said as she typed, "Lower than it has ever been since I first met Usagi-chan!"

"Did Rubeus or Esmeraude leave a Droid behind that we didn't know about?" Minako asked in frustration.

"There is no sign of negative energy or of energy drain…at least not conventional energy drain as performed by Yōma or Droids." Mercury countered, "Either there's someone new popping up and attacking Usagi-chan, or something else has caused this."

Before anyone else could say anything, a flash of light blinded the girls and Mamoru for a moment. When their sight cleared, a petite pinkette girl clad in a blue uniform and carrying a black ball the size of a small beach ball sat on the bed blinking at them.

"Chibi-Usa?!" the girls cried out in shock. Mamoru had to blink at the sight of his and Usagi's future daughter appearing only a couple of days after she was sent back to the 30th Century.

"Hi!" Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity quipped as she hopped down to the floor, "Where are we? Puu-chan told me I had to come here…"

It was then that she caught sight of the past version of her mother.

"Mama?!" she yelped and scampered over to Usagi's side.

"So Sailor Pluto sent you back?" Mercury asked curiously.

"Puu-chan said there was something I had to do while I was here, but she didn't tell me what!" Chibi-Usa said as she kept her eyes locked onto Usagi, "She never said anything about this!"

Luna-P, the robotic companion of Chibi-Usa, floated into the air and turned into a crystal ball, revealing a miniature image of Sailor Pluto within it.

" _Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, Small Lady, I see that Sailor Moon has collapsed."_ The Guardian of Time said solemnly.

"Puu-chan! What's wrong with my Baka-Mama?" Chibi-Usa asked her friend.

" _Sadly, it has to do with your battle against Death Phantom two days ago in this timeframe."_ Pluto replied with a sigh, _"Since acquiring the Ginzuishō, Sailor Moon has drawn upon its power at least three times, not including the times she used_ _**Moon Healing Escalation**_ _with it as a catalyst;_ _she used it once against Beryl/Metaria, once during the Fiore Incident and twice two days ago against Death Phantom. Each use has carried terrible burdens and consequences for her."_

The Inner Senshi looked down in pain at this. Their Princess had _died_ against Beryl/Metaria, only barely having the power to reincarnate them and herself by the end of the battle. She had died _again_ stopping the asteroid that Fiore had tried to crash into the Earth, with Fiore transferring part of his life energy to Mamoru and Sailor Moon to revive her. And, just two days ago, she had used the Ginzuishō in concert with Chibi-Usa's Ginzuishō to defeat Death Phantom and the Malefic Black Crystal, as well as once shortly before that to break the mind control on Chibi-Usa as Black Lady.

"Wait! Mama told us that there were no side effects from us using the Ginzuishō!" Chibi-Usa protested.

" _Neo-Queen-Serenity said that you would not_ die _from the use of it."_ Pluto corrected her, _"For you Small Lady, invoking its power for the first time and being full of so much life force, there will be no further side effects. For Sailor Moon, however…"_

"What's the matter with Usa-Ko?" Mamoru asked impatiently.

" _She is overusing it."_ The greenette answered simply, _"The Ginzuishō was not intended to be used by one person so often. It drew heavily upon her life force during the final battle against the Dark Kingdom and that life force had only just regenerated at the end of the Doom Tree incident. Using it against the asteroid further drained her reserves and using it against Death Phantom, when her body was in a weakened state, was too taxing. It took a couple of days for the physical damage to be healed, and then…this happened."_

"Again; _what is wrong with our Princess_ , **Sailor Pluto**!?" Minako snapped, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.

" _A magical coma of sorts."_ The Senshi of Time informed her lazily, utterly unaffected by Minako's anger, _"Her body has gone into a form of stasis, shutting down everything not absolutely essential to keeping her body and mind alive in order to rapidly regenerate her life force, which Mercury has no doubt noted is at an all-time low."_

"She's gone into Stasis Lock?!" Mercury looked alarmed as she pulled the relevant files out of the Mercury Computer, "Alright, now that I know that…c'mon, c'mon…ah! A week?! Usagi-chan's going to be in a coma for a week?!"

"What?!" Rei said in dismay.

" _Sadly, that is an underestimation if anything."_ Pluto acknowledged, _"She will likely be under for longer. This much overuse of the Ginzuishō hasn't happened in many, many generations of the Lunarian Royal Family. Even the Mercury Computer is only guesstimating based on previous, less severe, cases of Stasis Lock."_

"What can _I_ do, Puu-chan?!" Chibi-Usa asked, "You sent me back so I could do something to help Baka-Mama, right?"

" _True. Small Lady, you must join hands with the other Senshi and transfer some energy to Sailor Moon."_ Pluto said gently, _"Chiba-san, I'm afraid you cannot help here. As of yet, your power as Tuxedo Kamen isn't large enough to do more than be a drop in the ocean here."_

Scowling, Mamoru sighed and leaned against the wall and nodded briskly.

" _ **Mars Star Power, Make Up!**_ "

" _ **Venus Star Power, Make Up!**_ "

" _ **Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!**_ "

In a flash of flames, light and electricity, Sailor Mercury was joined by Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter. With Chibi-Usa kneeling on her mother's bed, the Four Inner Senshi joined hands in a circle around their Princess. Luna-P/Pluto floated next to Mamoru.

" _Alright. Now, invoke your power as if you were about to use the_ _ **Sailor Planet Attack**_ _or_ _ **Sailor Teleport**_ _."_ Pluto directed them, _"Then, send it into Small Lady. Small Lady, when they do that, pray deep in your heart for the energy to be transferred to Sailor Moon. Not your mother, not Neo-Queen Serenity, but Sailor Moon. Understand?"_

"I understand." The odango'd pinkette nodded determinedly.

" _ **Mercury Star Power!**_ "

" _ **Mars Star Power!**_ "

" _ **Jupiter Star Power!**_ "

" _ **Venus Star Power!**_ "

' _Please! Help our Princess!_ '

As each Senshi invoked their power, the jewel in the centre of their tiaras started to glow with power. Once Venus finished invoking her power, beams of light shot from the jewels and struck Chibi-Usa, who started to glow with power.

Clasping her hands together in front of her, the Princess of Crystal Tokyo prayed with everything she had for the power she had been filled with to transfer to Sailor Moon.

A golden crescent moon flashed into appearance on her forehead, which sent a beam of light to the comatose Usagi. A similar crescent moon mark appeared on her forehead as she absorbed the power that her future-daughter was giving her. A pearlescent glow appeared around the reincarnated Princess as she absorbed more power, a visible sign of the amount of energy she had absorbed.

After a few minutes, the transfer was halted by Chibi-Usa collapsing onto the bed, exhausted. The Senshi hastily stopped their own power transfer and anxiously checked on her, being relieved to see that she was merely asleep.

"That…was tiring." Venus sighed, "How does she look, Mercury?"

"One second." The Senshi of Wisdom said as she pulled out her mini-supercomputer again and started tapping away at it again. A few minutes later, she had her results. "She's much better than before. She'll wake up in a couple of days at latest."

"Thank Kami." Mars muttered, Jupiter nodding in agreement.

" _Mars, you should put up some wards and tell Ikuko that a weak Yōma possessed her and that you drove it out."_ Pluto suggested, _"With all of the happenings in Jūban, I think Tsukino-san would accept that."_

"I don't really like lying about what I can do as a Miko, Pluto." The Senshi of Passion stated with a frown.

"Mars, do it." Venus ordered tiredly, "I know you don't like it, but you did help with helping Usagi-chan recover from this, so there's a dollop of truth there."

"A 'grain' of truth, Venus." Mercury corrected her, "And I agree with you. Mars, we have to explain why Usagi's recovering; it's pretty obvious that she's recovering quickly."

It was true. Usagi's skin was back to a healthy shade of peach and she was breathing easily.

"Oh, fine." Mars gave in. She had already laid the groundwork for that excuse anyway, so she might as well use it. It was just her pride as a practicing Miko that was rebelling against the idea.

Luna-P returned to normal after Sailor Pluto informed them that Chibi-Usa had to return the night that Usagi returned home from the hospital.

The girls transformed back to their civilian forms and Mamoru gently picked up Chibi-Usa as Rei placed various ofuda around Usagi's bed. They did have a purpose, other than looking impressive; they were an alarm ward that would wake Rei up if an evil being entered the room or even if an evil being came within a few hundred metres of the room.

Rei wasn't taking _any_ chances with the safety of her Princess.

 _Later_

"Oh my!" Ikuko whispered in shock when she entered the room, Shingo and Kenji following behind her.

"She was possessed by a weak Yōma that was draining her energy." Rei informed them, "Fortunately, it was weak enough that I was able to exorcise and kill it. The wards should keep any further Yōma from possessing her and all the energy she lost is gradually being restored to her. Usagi should wake up in about two days."

Ikuko swept the surprised ravenette into a tight hug. "Thank you…thank you so much…!"

"Is baka-nee-chan gonna be alright?" Shingo asked, feigning unconcern not too successfully.

"She'll be tired and lethargic, more so than normal, for a while." Rei said, a pink blush decorating her cheeks as she disengaged herself from Usagi's mother's embrace, "I can't say for how long, but it'll be at least three days, maybe as long as a week, before she's back to normal. She was _really_ being drained to the limits."

"Rei-chan…thank you." Kenji bowed to her deeply, "We owe you our daughter's life."

"Usagi's my friend; I wouldn't let something bad happen to her if I can help it." Rei replied bashfully.

After a few more minutes of talking, the girls and Mamoru left, contacting Luna and Artemis and arranging a meeting at the Hikawa Shrine. The girls were quiet and unsettled by the day's events. Usagi had almost died again and they had all been helpless to do anything about it until Chibi-Usa showed up.

 _Later_

 _Hikawa Shrine_

"Oh my." Luna echoed Ikuko's exclamation once Usagi's condition was explained to her and Artemis, "I _knew_ that overusing the Ginzuishō was deathly dangerous."

"Yes, well we have to make sure that Usagi-chan doesn't have that burden strike her down like this _again_!" Minako said harshly, "Ami, I want you to trawl the database on the moon; find out any possible way for us to reduce the burden on Usagi if she has to use the damn Ginzuishō."

"We should be trying to find a way to stop her from needing to use it at all!" Makoto snapped, her voice breaking a bit as she continued, "She almost d-died _again_! I don't want to s-see this situation happen again if there's anything we can do to stop it!"

Ami laid a comforting hand on the taller girl. "As much as it pains me to say it, Usagi-chan is our trump card. She has more magic than we do thanks to being Princess Serenity's reincarnation and, for whatever reason, her attacks are always geared towards healing and purification of possessed enemies, which we _do_ need on occasion."

"We're her Senshi. We're supposed to fight _for_ her." Rei said coldly, hands clenched tight, "Not prove our incompetence by forcing our Princess onto the battlefield! Damn it…"

The other three Senshi and two Moon Cats studiously ignored the watery eyes that the Miko had out of self-preservation and moved on.

"Luna, Artemis, are there any attacks or artefacts that can do what Sailor Moon can do?" Minako asked brusquely.

"No, I'm afraid not." Artemis shook his head at once, "About the closest you can get is Sailor Saturn. She has the power of healing as part of her 'Senshi of Ruin and Rebirth' title. Other than that, purification is usually reserved solely for the line of Serenity."

"Dammit."

"The situation was set up assuming that the Senshi were strong enough to overpower and capture enemies who had been converted from innocent bystanders." Luna added bluntly, "This isn't a slight against you all; in your last lives, you were trained in your Senshi powers for years before seeing actual combat. Unlike these days, where you have to learn via trial by fire."

"Wait, so we're actually _weaker_ than we were in our previous lives?!" the Senshi of Protection demanded.

"Of course you are." Luna replied in amusement, "Your magical reserves are about a third below what they were back then for a start. Understand that while Princess Serenity was _your_ Princess, all of _you_ were Princesses also. You were raised and taught by the finest tutors and instructors that lived during the Silver Millennium and had been mentally prepared since you could walk. Bearing the haste in which you were all awakened and the sheer lack of time and resources to properly educate you in combat, you have all done remarkably well."

"Not well enough." Rei, Minako and Makoto said simultaneously, with Ami chiming in a beat later.

"To be fair, they have a wider variety of attacks than they had in their last lives." Artemis pointed out, trying to boost the morale of the Senshi, "And their bond with the Princess is just as strong, if not stronger, than it was in their last lives."

"True enough." His fellow Moon Cat conceded.

"I…I don't know how much more my heart can take." Rei admitted suddenly, "She's my friend and I keep having to see her in pain or unconscious or dead _and I can't take it anymore!_ "

Minako stood up and drew the Miko into a firm hug as she lost her self-control and started sobbing, finally pushed beyond her limits. Her Princess had almost died in front of her _again_ and had it not been for Pluto and Chibi-Usa, she might not have survived. Rei knew that if Usagi didn't survive, she and the other Senshi wouldn't be able to carry on. They weren't as strong as their Princess.

"Shh, shh, shh…" the Senshi of Love cooed at her friend, "Usagi-chan's alive, we're alive and we'll find a way to stop this kinda thing from happening again."

The other two Senshi stood and hugged Rei as well, sniffles coming from all of them as they allowed their own composures to crumble. It was good that they had each other to lean on in times such as this.

"Never again." Minako muttered.

"Never again." The other three Senshi whispered in agreement.

 _Four Days Later_

"I'm _so_ sorry girls." Usagi apologised profusely as the odango'd blond was escorted out of the hospital by her friends. Rei was on her left, Minako on her right, Makoto was in front of her and Ami followed along behind her. Luna was perched purring on her shoulder.

"It's OK, Usagi-chan." Minako reassured her Princess, "Just…promise us that you'll not use IT unless there is absolutely no other choice."

"I…" Usagi said with a frown.

"Enough for now." Rei interrupted them waspishly, "We have to get Usagi home without her tripping over her own shoelaces."

"I'm not that bad!" the Princess complained, "Rei-chan's being a meanie again!"

Then she stumbled, her eyes glazing over as she suddenly felt faint for a moment. Before she could even fall a couple of inches, Rei and Minako grabbed her and held her up as she recovered from her dizzy spell.

"Th-thanks." She said sheepishly, "Looks like I'm still not a hundred percent yet."

"Dumpling Head…!" Rei started heatedly, "You didn't lie to the doctors did you?!"

"No…" Usagi said listlessly, "Just…felt really tired all of a sudden…"

Exchanging concerned looks, the Inner Senshi steered their half-conscious friend into a taxi. As they headed towards her house, Usagi recovered slightly, but it was obvious that she wasn't at her best, regardless of what she said.

At Usagi's house, there was a small party to celebrate her recovery. Something that hadn't changed was the Princess' voracious appetite, displayed as she dug into the food with a gusto, loudly complaining that hospital food sucked.

"Guess that's what was missing; proper food." Ikuko said knowingly, "Hospital food _is_ rather bland. And tasteless."

"At least you only had to put up with it for a day, Usagi-chan." Ami said kindly.

"Mmm!" the girl nodded frantically.

"Nice to see some things never change." Rei commented in amusement. The Miko was relieved to see Usagi stuffing her face as usual. Seeing her up, lively and noisy as always was doing wonders for her battered heart. The image rose up in her mind of how Usagi had been before the power transfer four days previously and she shuddered, banishing it to the back of her mind and slapping an enormous mental ofuda on it to keep it locked up.

' _She's alive._ ' Rei told herself firmly, ' _We transferred some power to her and she is alive, well and loud as always._ '

All of the Inner Senshi, as they snuck out later that night to see Chibi-Usa off to the future again, swore that they would help their Princess somehow. She would not suffer from this again.

 **OK, so this is the third Sailor Moon One-Shot that I've written and everyone is, quite understandably, wondering if I plan to write any actual Sailor Moon multi-chapter fics. In answer…maybe. Do you guys want me to? I do have a couple of ideas, but they are in the alpha stages of development. Leave a review saying yea or nay if you want full Sailor Moon fics!**


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